Just A Friend
by TheHerringCalledOmnomnom
Summary: A new girl fresh from college joins the NCIS team. She's nervous, and that dude with the marine cut is quite intimidating. This will be an eventual Gibbs/OC story, so please, bear with me! It's worth the read, I promise. Rated M for language, and future chapters. Includes all characters, centered around Gibbs and my OC. I might not follow the storyline very closely.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N **

**Okay, so it's been a while since I've written so I'm sorry if this sucks. This is my first NCIS fanfic, so take it easy please. I haven't decided yet if this will be just a few chapters or if I'll make it long. As always, please feel free to review, favorite, and follow me and/or the story. Thanks guys! Love ya'll!**

** ~TheHerringCalledOmnomnom**

I tapped my foot nervously and twirled a strand of my auburn hair as I rode up to the second floor of the NCIS building. I had just finished my training and graduated from college and I was starting my new job today. I had gone into the employment office, and they had handed me an address and a badge and ID and sent me on my way. I'm only 23 and I already have a job working for a well-known detective service. Could it get any better than that?

Mom and Dad were happy when I mentioned going to the employment office. I have been out of college for about 6 months now, and they encouraged me to start looking for a job. So I did. Mom will probably want to know every detail of how work went today. I told them I got a new job offer, but I didn't really elaborate on that. I was torn from my thought by the elevator dinging. As the doors opened, I took a deep breath, tugged the edges of my T-shirt down with my left hand, as my right hand was holding a bottle of Mountain Dew, and stepped out.

The first thing I noticed was that all the people there were dressed a little better than I was. I looked down at my outfit. Black and grey skull print skinny jeans, a Skillet T-shirt with a purple transparent rose-print lacey long sleeved shirt underneath, and Converse knee-highs. I didn't want to dress up too much, as I didn't know what to expect. I also hadn't expected to actually get the job. I hadn't taken my piercings out either. I had my earrings in, a cartilage piercing on my right ear and four regular holes. Those didn't concern me. What concerned me was that I hadn't taken my nose stud out. It was small and didn't really call attention to itself much, but it still bothered me. Oh well, too late to take it out now. I adjusted the strap of my black and red purse, shoved my iPhone into my back pocket and walked over to the bullpen.

The man at the employment office had told me that the head of the team I was to be working with was Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. When I asked how I will know who to talk to, he smiled and said look for the marine cut. I looked around and saw that there were four computer work spaces, three of which were occupied. The first was empty, which I assumed was my space. The one across from it was occupied by a guy who looked to be in his late 20s to early 30s. He had dirty blond hair and was currently fighting with his keyboard.

In the work station beside him was another guy who looked to be about the same age as the latter. Only he was very focused on what he was doing, and wasn't having any problems with his keyboard, unlike Mr. Smash happy beside him.

Across from him was a man who had short cut silver hair. Wait a minute! This guy had a marine cut. _That must be Gibbs, _I thought to myself. He was working on his computer with a cup of coffee in his left hand. There were two other coffee cups sitting on his desk. _Coffee addict much?_ I didn't blame him, I have an addiction to Mountain Dew, coffee, pretty much anything with caffeine in it. I gathered all of my confidence, swallowed the lump in my throat, and entered the bullpen. I noticed the guy who had been fighting with his keyboard look up as I walked over to Gibbs, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him throw a ball of paper at the other guy, who looked up at him with annoyance, but then turned his eyes on me. I kept walking and stood in front of Gibbs.

"You must be Mr. Gibbs?" I asked, my voice coming out a lot less confident then I wanted it to.

He looked up at me. "Call me Gibbs"

"I'm Belladonna Winter, the new recruit?" I said questioningly. _Am I at the wrong place?_

He looked me up and down, then looked back at my face. I hated to think it, but this guy was pretty intimidating. The way he looked me straight in the eye made me think he was gazing right into my soul. It kind of scared me. He raised an eyebrow.

"Wasn't expecting someone so young" he said. He looked at my clothes. "Or dressed like a teenager" he said, smirking.

"Or pretty" I heard a voice say from behind me. I looked to my right and saw the guy who was having computer issues standing beside me. "Anthony Dinozzo, call me Tony" he said, winking at me. I rolled my eyes and looked back to Gibbs. He was glaring at Tony, who looked down and took a few steps away from me. Gibbs looked back to me.

"Well, Belladonna…" Gibbs started.

"Please, call me Bella" I told him.

He nodded. "Anyway, you already met Dinozzo. Over behind you is McGee." He said, pointing behind me. I looked behind me and McGee looked up and smiled at me. He seemed nice.

"He's also our computer nerd" Tony said.

McGee glared at him, which made me chuckle. I turned back to Gibbs.

He motioned to the desk area beside him. "That's your workspace over there. You have your badge and ID already, I suppose."

I nodded and walked over to my area. I sat down and put my purse down by my feet.

"Oh and one more thing" Gibbs said. I looked over just to see a box flying over to me. I reached up and caught it easily. I opened it and inside was a pair of black boots. I looked up and smiled, mostly out of confusion.

"Work can take you to some messy places" he said. He reached down and opened a drawer and pulled something else out. I didn't see what it was until he tossed that to me too. It was a gun holster. Inside the holster was a black Sig Sauer SP 2340. It felt nice in my hand. I shoved it back into the holster and strapped the holster to my hip.

"Thanks" I told him.

He just nodded and went back to work. _He must not be much of a talker._

I turned to my computer. I saw a folder marked "files to be sorted". I opened it and saw close to 500 files that needed to be sorted and organized in alphabetical order. It wasn't something terribly hard, but I couldn't help but think of how long this was going to take me. I got started and was about 50 files in when a window popped up on my screen. I opened it and a message appeared.

**You like Skillet, huh?**

I looked at the sender and saw that it was from Tony.

**Yeah. One of my favorite bands,** I messaged back.

Tony: **Ever been to one of their concerts?**

Me: **Yeah, too many to count. You listen to the sneak preview of their next album?**

Tony: **Yeah, it was awesome. I can't wait for it to come out.**

I was about to message back when another message appeared on my screen.

**Work.**

I saw it was from Gibbs. I blushed and looked over at him. He was looking pointedly at me and Tony. I smiled, embarrassed, and he just raised his eyebrows at me in a mock scolding. I looked back to my computer. I looked over my computer at Tony. He must have gotten the same message because he looked at me, then to Gibbs, then back to me. He smiled slightly, then went back to work.

_Shit. Only your first day, and you already got in trouble. No more distractions. Work Bella!_

I went back to work. Time seemed to go by slowly. I looked at the time on my phone and saw that it was only 10:30. I had arrived at 9:30. I continued to work and soon got all the files sorted. I looked over to see McGee stand up and tell Gibbs that Abby wanted to see him. Who is Abby? He can't be allowed to go off to see his wife or girlfriend or something when Tony and I weren't allowed to so much as message each other. Gibbs nodded, then looked over to me.

"McGee!" he said loudly.

McGee turned around. "Yes boss?"

"Take newbie with you" he said, while looking at me. He smirked. I just glared at him, I hate being called a newbie. I got up and walked over to McGee. He smiled and started walking. I followed him over to a different elevator.

"So how are you liking your new job?" he asked as we stepped into the elevator. He pressed a giant "B", which I guess meant "basement".

"It's alright. I figured there'd be a little more excitement. Working on a computer all day isn't what I had planned." I told him, smiling.

He laughed. "It'll get more exciting. This is the one day we didn't get called to an investigation. It's been a pretty quiet week, actually."

"Well, hopefully it'll get more exciting" I said. "So who is Abby, your girlfriend?"

McGee looked at me with wide eyes and I raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, was it something I said?" I asked him.

"N-No" He stammered. "She's the 'lab rat' here at NCIS. She's not my girlfriend. It just startled me that people would think that."

"Oh, okay. Sorry" I said.

He smiled. "No really, it's okay."

The elevator dinged and we walked out. We were greeted by loud music blasting from a room ahead of us. It sounded like The Offspring playing.

I heard a voice singing along to it.

"Now dance, fucker, dance! He never had a chance. And no one even knew, it was really only you, so dance, fucker, dance! I never had a chance, it was really only you!"

I smiled. "I think I'm gonna like this chick" I told McGee.

I walked in just as the chorus was starting, and I started to sing along with her.

"With a thousand lies and a good disguise, hit 'em right between the eyes, hit 'em right between the eyes!"

The girl jumped when I started singing and turned around. She was really pretty. She had black hair pulled up into two high pigtails, and had on a white lab coat. Underneath, she had a black lacey tank top on and a red and black mini skirt with silver crosses on it. She also was sporting black platform knee high boots. She saw McGee, and she smiled even bigger. She turned the music down and we walked over to her.

"Is this the new girl?" she asked McGee.

He nodded. I held out my hand. "I'm Belladonna Winters, but most people call me Bella".

I expected her to shake my hand but she ran up and hugged me. I stood there for a few seconds, then hugged her back, laughing. _She must be a hugger_.

"I'm Abby, it's so nice to meet you. You're an Offspring fan?" she asked, excitedly.

I nodded, then pointed to my shirt.

She looked down and squealed. "I love Skillet! Have you heard their preview to their new album? It's so…" she started, but stopped when McGee walked up to her.

"You said you wanted to show me something, Abby?" he said.

"Oh, right." She said, turning back to her computer station. "I dusted your desk for prints, but couldn't find any except your own."

"Damn it" McGee said. I looked at him, confused.

"However" Abby continued, "I did find a place on the edge of your desk that had some hair stuck to it. I ran the DNA and it turned up that it was Tony."

McGee looked really pissed. "I knew it, I _fucking_ knew it!"

"Sorry to interrupt, but what is this about?" I asked Abby.

"Well…" Abby began.

"No, don't tell her Abbs!" McGee pleaded.

"He came into work a few days ago and went to work on his computer." Abby continued. McGee sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "He started typing, but found that his fingers were glued to the keyboard" She finished with a giggle.

I smiled and started laughing.

"I guess Tony must have bumped his head or something on the corner of McGee's desk because his hair was stuck on with some dried blood. It was him alright." Abby said.

McGee looked back up, and he was blushing hard. "I'm gonna make him confess it was him, just to be sure."

I looked at McGee. "I can help you with that"

"How?" he asked me.

I smirked. "I have my ways"

**A/N**

**Thanks for reading. As for you Skillet fans, I honestly don't know if they have a new album coming out, I just used it for the conversation starters! Please remember to review! It really helps!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

**Thank you to everyone who is reading this story! I don't know how often I will be able to update since school is in session, but I'll try my best to update frequently! Also, I am soooooo sorry that I haven't updated the story for months. Thank you so much for all the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of their characters. Only my OC.**

** ~TheHerringCalledOmnomnom**

"What's your plan?" McGee asked me.

I thought for a minute. "Well, maybe I can persuade him to tell me that he did it, or at least when or how he did it."

"That's good!" Abby said. "But you can't make it obvious that you know about the incident. You're going to have to bring it up casually."

"Oh, I think I can do that." I replied with a grin.

"Well, we better head back up, Boss is probably looking for us." McGee said.

"Okay. Nice meeting you Abby!" I said, walking out after McGee.

"Nice to meet you too, Bella!" She yelled back, as she had turned her music back up.

I looked ahead, shaking my head and smiling. We got back in the elevator, and McGee pressed the 2.

"So, Tony. Is he always hitting on girls?" I asked McGee.

McGee nodded. "Pretty much."

"Great. He's gonna get annoying fast." I replied.

"You'll get used to him." McGee told me. "It just takes a while. But he will always look for a reason to pick on you, that's for sure."

"That's okay, I have an older brother. I have more than enough experience with that." I said smiling at McGee.

The doors opened and we walked over and entered the bullpen.

"McGee!" Gibbs voice rang out. I jumped, as I didn't expect it. McGee smiled at me, then walked over to Gibbs.

"Boss?" he asked.

"What did Abby want?" he asked.

_Shit. We can't tell him what she really wanted with us since Tony was sitting just a few feet away from us._ McGee looked back to me, and I walked up beside him. I'm pretty good at thinking on my feet, and being put on the spot wasn't fun, but it wasn't hard for me to come up with an excuse.

"She had an error message appear on her screen, and it wouldn't let her do anything. She needed McGee to help her." I explained.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow, as if he knew I was lying, but said nothing. I went back over to my desk, and sat down. McGee sat down at his desk. I started working again when an idea crossed my mind. I opened the message window and opened up my messages to Tony.

Me: **Is this all we do all day?**

Tony: **Not all day, just for some of it. It's unusually quiet today. Has been all week.**

Me: **Anything fun ever happen in here? :)**

Tony smiled.

Tony: **Haha, sometimes. Pulling pranks is how I pass the time.**

I smiled. It was now or never. I had to find out if he did it or not.

Me: **Pull any good ones lately? ;)**

Tony: **Yeah, I pulled a good one on McGee a few days ago. Still hasn't figured out who it was.**

I smiled. Me: **What did you do?**

Tony: **I put superglue on his keyboard. Probie came in and started typing away without even noticing that the keys were shiny and had a whitish coat over them.**

I burst out laughing. Gibbs looked over at me, as did McGee. I gave a thumbs up to McGee.

"Tony did it" I said.

McGee glared over to Tony.

"Wait, did what?" asked Tony innocently.

"Don't give me that crap. I know it was you who put the superglue on my keyboard." McGee growled.

"Me? I didn't do _anything._" Tony said.

"Then why do I have messages on my computer of you admitting that you did it?" I asked, smiling.

Tony looked to McGee, then back to me. McGee walked over to my desk and high-fived me.

"You didn't" Tony said to me.

I turned my monitor towards him. "Oh, but I did." I said, with an evil grin.

McGee sat down at his desk, obviously satisfied. Tony looked over to Gibbs. I also looked over to him.

Gibbs just looked at me, then at Tony, then back to me. "Looks like somebody knows how to get answers" he said. Tony opened his mouth, then shut it. He looked back to his computer. I looked up at Gibbs, and my eyes met his. I felt my cheeks heat up, and my stomach fluttered just faintly. He smiled slightly, then returned to his work. I looked back to my computer.

_What the hell? What was that? Why do I feel like this? I never blush! And what is with that feeling in my stomach?_ I mulled over my thoughts. One hand was on my mouse, which was working on the computer. My left hand held my pencil, which was scribbling absent-mindedly on a piece of scrap paper. Drawing or scribbling always seemed to calm me down and help me focus on whatever task was at hand. I was so focused that I didn't hear the footsteps of someone coming up to my desk.

I jumped when fingers waved in from of my screen. I looked up to see Gibbs looking down at me with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, didn't hear you come up" I said, blushing.

"I'm going to the shooting range with Dinozzo. I want you to come along. You need to get used to the feel of that gun." He said.

I looked down at my hip where my gun was, then back at him. I nodded and stood up.

"Actually, Boss, I'm gonna have to skip the shooting range today" Tony said from his desk.

Gibbs turned around, as did I, to face Tony. "Why?" Gibbs commanded. I swear, this man has a lot of authority to his voice. It was actually quite scary.

"Well, I haven't gotten everything done on the file I'm working on, and I've got errands to run" he responded, hesitantly.

Gibbs stared at him for a minute, then shook his head and looked back to me. "Guess it's just you and me, kid" he said.

I stared hard at his eyes. _I'm not a __**kid**_**.**

I nodded, got my purse and phone, and followed him to the elevator. The doors opened and he stepped in. I walked in after him, and he pushed the button. I stood there nervously. I'm not a bad shooter, but shooting in front of my boss… The idea just makes me nervous. I was torn from my thoughts by Gibbs talking to me.

"What did Abby really want?" he asked.

"How'd you know?" I asked.

"I couldn't tell from you, but McGee had an expression that just screamed _lies_." He said, smiling. He looked at me, and I turned my head and looked at him. I never noticed before, but he has the most gorgeous eyes. They were a very deep blue, and I wanted to tear my eyes away from them, but I just couldn't. I could feel my face threatening to heat up, but I let my eyes travel down his face anyway. I took in his perfect cheekbones, and don't even get me started on his lips, which were turned upward in a smirk. _Bella! Snap out of it! Stop!_

"Well, McGee suspected that Tony was the culprit, so he had Abby dust his desk for fingerprints. She didn't find any, but she did find some hair and little bit of dried blood on the corner of McGee's desk. The results showed it was Tony." I explained.

Gibbs just shook his head. "Typical. Dinozzo has always been the troublemaker."

I smiled and turned my head away. I felt my heartbeat speeding up. _It suddenly got really hot in here._

"You okay?" I heard Gibbs ask me.

"Yeah" I said, swallowing. "Just a little nervous."

Gibbs looked over to me. He must have seen how red I was, because he gave me a worried look. He took his hand and put it to my forehead. "You sure? You're pretty warm."

As soon as his hand touched my head, my heart practically stopped. His hand was kind of rough, like he works with rough materials a lot. My skin tingled lightly.  
"Y-Yeah. I just give off a lot of body heat" I said, hoping he wouldn't notice I was trying to cover up the fact that I was basically acting like a school girl.

He took his hand off my forehead, and my skin grew cold without his warm hand covering it. I turned to face ahead, and the doors opened and he stepped out. We walked out to the parking lot. Gibbs walked over to a black dodge charger. _Nice car. _

"Who's car should we take, mine or yours?" he asked me. I looked at his car, then over to my bright red convertible that was parked right beside his. _Convenient. _Note the sarcasm.

"My car okay?" I asked.

"Let's go." He said.

I walked over, smiling of course, and got in the driver's side while Gibbs got in the passenger side. I buckled my seatbelt and started the car. My stereo started blaring a Kiss song. I quickly turned it down, and blushed when Gibbs looked over at me.

I smiled, and just looked back to my dashboard.

_Something's missing, _I thought. I looked around, and wiped my brow, as I was very sweaty. Then it hit me. The top wasn't down. I looked to the console and found the button to open the top. Gibbs looked down, then raised an eyebrow at me, and I smiled at him, and pressed the button. The top came down, and I felt the light breeze. I put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking space. I pulled out, and put my turn signal on.

"Hold on" I told him.

The traffic passed, and I slammed my foot down on the gas, and we rushed out into the road. I looked at my speedometer and saw that I was going 60. _Too slow, _my brain said. I pushed down a little more and got it up to 70. I knew where the shooting range was, and going this speed will get us there in about 15 minutes, about half the time it would take going a slower speed. I looked over to Gibbs, and saw that he was looking at me. I grinned and kept going. I stole glances over when I thought he wasn't looking. I looked over once more, and saw him with his head leaning back on the seat. He was smiling while watching the trees go by.

We passed countless cars and arrived at the shooting range. I pulled into a parking space, and turned the car off.

"Where'd you learn how to drive?" Gibbs asked me.

"My brother taught me." I replied.

Gibbs smirked. "He taught you right."

I smiled back at him. I got lost in his blue eyes again. _Bella! Snap. Out. Of. It. _

I got out, and Gibbs grabbed the bag of ammo and got out. I locked the car, and we headed over to the shooting range.

**A/N**

**Sorry that this chapter was so short. I'll make it longer next time. Feel free to leave a review or any suggestions! If you have an account, PM me! Also, sorry if Gibbs is too OOC, mah b. I'll try harder next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

**So, as promised, I'll make this chapter a little longer than the last one. As for those of you who are reading my Walking Dead story, I may not update for a little while, but expect an update before the month is up! Thank you for all the reads, and the review. Please, REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS! It helps a lot.**

** ~TheHerringCalledOmnomnom**

**And P.S~ PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE SUGGESTIONS AND IDEAS FOR THE STORY. AS FOR ANY QUESTIONS, ASK AWAY AND I'LL DO MY BEST TO ANSWER THEM WITHOUT GIVING ANYTHING AWAY.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my OC.**

We walked over to the shooting range and set our stuff on one of the picnic tables. I took my gun out and loaded it, and Gibbs did the same with his. Gibbs walked up to the targets and put a picture of a bull's-eye on two of them. He turned around and walked back to the table. He sat down and looked at me.

"Show me what you got" he said.

I swallowed the golf ball sized lump in my throat and turned to the target. I took the safety off and held the gun with both hands out in front of me. I tried to focus on the target the best I could, but I was so nervous! I pulled the trigger and hit the outermost circle.

"Damn it!" I hissed. I thought it was under my breath, but Gibbs must have heard it because I heard him snicker.

I raised the gun and took aim again. I hit right beside the first bullet.

"Son of a bitch" I cursed.

I heard footsteps come up behind me. I turned my head and looked straight into Gibbs' eyes.

He leaned in close to my ear. "You need to relax, Bella. Don't be so nervous."

I almost shivered at his voice. It was low and extremely sexy. _Wait, WHAT? Did I really just think that?_

I nodded. He stepped back. "I'm not going to judge you based on your shooting. Just focus on the target. Forget that I'm even here"

I nodded. I looked back to the target. _Forget that he's even here. Pretend you're just practicing with dad. _I aimed for the third time. I focused on the bull's-eye and took a deep breath and let it out. I pulled the trigger. The bullet hit just the edge of the bull's-eye. I smiled and turned around to face Gibbs. He nodded and smiled.

"Much better. How did you focus?" he asked.

"I thought of it as just another day on the range at home with my dad" I answered, shrugging.

Gibbs nodded. "Let's make this interesting."

I raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"We have a competition. Whoever gets the most bullets on the bull's-eye wins. Loser has to buy lunch." Gibbs said.

I smiled and nodded. "You're on"

He held out his hand and I reached out and shook it. For a split second I thought I saw something pass through his eyes, but I convinced myself it was just my imagination. I let my hand drop, and immediately missed the warmth of Gibbs' hand. Gibbs' picked up his gun and walked up and stood in front of the target beside mine.

"Ready?" he asked.

I nodded, with a determined look on my face. "Hell yeah"

I put in my headphones and blasted some hard rock and took a shot. It hit dead center. I smiled and kept firing and kept hitting the bull's-eye. I eventually ran out of ammo and Gibbs did too. I took my headphones out, and we both walked up to our targets. Mine had 9 of the rounds out of 12 fired in the bull's-eye. I looked over to Gibbs and he looked up at me.

"I got 9." I said.

Gibbs smiled. "10"

"Damn, beat by one shot. _One_" I said.

"You'll get better with time. I say you did pretty good." He said.

I sighed. Not out of misery, out of being too hot. It felt to be 90 degrees out here. "Where are we eating?" I asked him.

He thought for a minute. "There's a bar and grill near the office. We can go there."

"I think I know which one you mean. Sounds good" I told him.

I turned around and walked back to the picnic table. I started packing everything up. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and was met with those bright blue eyes.

"You did do pretty well." He said.

I nodded. "I know. I just wish I got more in the center."

He smiled. "You just joined NCIS today. I've been working here for a while. I've shot more."

I smiled and nodded. We gathered up our stuff and headed back to the car. I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. I pulled onto the main road, and we started back to the bar and grill. I put one hand on top of the wheel, and I ran my hand through my hair. It was blowing in my face and starting to annoy me.

Gibbs seemed to see how much trouble I was having. "Need any help?" he asked, chuckling.

"Nah, I'm good. Hair's just getting in the way." I said.

"Can you see to drive?" he asked.

I chuckled, and looked over at him. "Of course, I wouldn't put you in any kind of danger like that."

Gibbs smiled and looked back to the road. I looked back as well. I put my right arm down and rested it on the console. The problem was, there was already something there. I looked down and saw that my hand was touching Gibbs' arm. I blushed and spared a glance over at him. He flicked his eyes down to the console. I blushed even harder and looked back to the road, taking my arm off the console.

I turned on the cd player and I Love Rock n' Roll came on. Gibbs looked over and smiled at me.

"You like Joan Jett?" he asked.

"You kidding me? Joan Jett, Nirvana, Metallica. You name it, I probably know them." I said.

Gibbs smiled and looked to the CD player. He leaned forward and turned the volume nob, which caused the music to become louder. I smiled and started tapping my other foot to the beat. I was so caught up in the music that I started mouthing the words and bobbing my head lightly. I caught Gibbs looking at me out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at him, and met his eyes. I, again, blushed and looked away. Yeah, when I told people I don't blush easily; I lied.

I saw the bar and grill and I pulled into the parking lot. I shut the car off and put the roof up. I opened the car door and got out. Gibbs got out, and we walked into the place.

"Booth, table, or bar?" I asked him.

"Which do you prefer?" he asked.

I thought about it for a minute. "I like sitting in a booth"

"Then we'll sit at a booth" he said.

We walked over to a booth and Gibbs slid in one side while I slid in across from him. A waitress came to our booth, and gave us both a menu.

"Hi, I'm Cassandra, I'll be your server today. What can I get you to drink?" she asked.

"I'll take coffee. Regular, black." Gibbs said.

Cassandra looked to me.

"I'll take a large Mountain Dew, please." I told her.

"Okay, I'll be right back with your drinks." She said. She walked away and I turned back to my menu.

"What are you getting?" Gibbs asked me.

I shrugged. "I'm not a big eater."

"You gotta eat something" he said.

"I'll be fine, really, I'm not that hungry." I insisted.

The waitress came back. "Have you decided?" she asked.

"Yes, I'll have the club sandwich, with everything, and a side of fries." Gibbs said. The waitress wrote it down, then looked to me. "She'll have a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup and a side of fries"

Cassandra nodded, then walked away to the kitchen. I looked over and raised my eyebrow at Gibbs.

"You didn't have to do that. It's fine, I'm not hungry." I said, smiling slightly.

"You need to eat, I'm not going to let you starve" he said.

I smiled. "I do eat you know. Just not used to regular mealtimes, I guess" I said. "I'm a grazer."

Gibbs smiled back at me. "You'll like their food. It's good."

I nodded. I couldn't help but think about how things were going so far. We went to a bar and grill, we're sitting across from each other, he _ordered _for me… Was this a _date?_

_No. It's not a date, Bella. It's two co-workers having lunch. Nothing unusual here,_ I told myself.

I must have been deep in thought because when Gibbs tapped my arm, I jumped. I turned my head and looked at Gibbs, who was smiling.

"You always that deep in thought?" he asked.

I blushed and nodded. "I just tend to go to lala land a lot, and I guess I forget to check back with reality."

"So tell me a bit about yourself, Bella" Gibbs said. God, I love the way he says my name._ Wait, what?_

"Well, I grew up outside the city on a small farm. And I mean small. A couple of horses, some chickens. We had a shooting range out back, and my dad and my brother and I would go out and shoot a lot." I started.

"You have siblings?" he asked.

"Just my brother." I said.

Gibbs looked into my eyes and nodded. "What about a boyfriend?" he asked.

I had gone to take a sip of my drink, and I nearly spit it out. I started coughing, but soon had it under control.

"You okay?" Gibbs asked.

I smiled. "Yeah. Just surprised me with that question."

"Well, do you?" he asked.

"Do I what?" I asked, still trying to get my breathing under control.

"Have a boyfriend." Gibbs said pointedly.

"I- well- No, I don't" I said.

Gibbs actually looked surprised. "A girl like you not having a boyfriend?"

"What do you mean 'a girl like me'? I asked, confused.

"Well" Gibbs started. "You're young, just got out of college, and you seem to get along well with people."

I looked down and blushed. "Never really got into dating." I mumbled, while smiling slightly.

Gibbs lifted my chin up, my eyes met his. "You're a very smart girl, Bella."

"Thanks" I said, looking back to the window. Our meals came, and I have to agree with Gibbs, it was very good. We made small talk, but never went back to our previous conversation. We finished eating and the lady brought our check. I picked it up, and then dug around in my purse for my wallet.

"So how did you get into _this _style?" Gibbs asked me, while pointing at my Nightmare Before Christmas wallet.

I shrugged and opened the wallet. "Just started wearing darker clothes, then I turned to this. But I'm not like this all the time. I do dress normally on occasion."

Gibbs chuckled, and I finished paying for our meal. We walked outside and headed to the car. I got in and Gibbs got in also. I started up the car and put the top down. Putting the car in reverse, I backed out and got on the main road. We were almost to the office when I saw a Starbucks.

I looked over and saw that Gibbs was leaning his head back with his eyes closed. I went to shake him awake when he spoke up.

"Yes, we can stop there" he said.

I looked at him in astonishment. How did he know…?

"I saw you look over there repeatedly" he answered my internal question.

I smiled and turned into the drive thru lane.

"Do you want anything?" I asked him.

"Large coffee, black" he responded.

I nodded, then pulled forward.

"Hi, may I help you?" a voice said from the box.

"Yes, can I have a caramel macchiato, grande, and a large coffee, black." I said into it.

"Will that be it for you then?" the voice asked.

"Yes, thank you" I replied.  
I pulled forward and gave the lady our money. I then pulled forward to the pick-up window. I put the car in park, and leaned back in my seat.

"So how many cups of coffee do you go through in a day?" I asked Gibbs.

"Oh, maybe a half dozen, give or take" he replied.

"Holy crap, you like coffee" I said, smiling.

"Well, I was a…" he started.

"Marine" I finished. He looked over to me with a questioning expression.

"The guy at the employment office said to 'look for the guy with the grey hair and marine cut'" I told him.

"Did he?" Gibbs contemplated.

The window opened and I took both cups, thanking the lady. I handed Gibbs his coffee, and our fingers brushed against each other's just briefly. I could feel my heartbeat speed up. I looked away and took a sip of my macchiato.

I put the car back into drive and started towards the office. I pulled back into the parking lot and shut off the car. I put the top up and turned off the radio. I grabbed my drink and got out. Gibbs got out and grabbed the bag of ammo, and I locked the car. We walked back to the building and stepped into the elevator.

"That was fun" I said.

"Good." He responded.

"One question, though" I said.

Gibbs turned to me. "What?"

"Do I have to dress like you guys now that I work here?" I asked, with a wince, as I don't like dressing up.

He just smiled slightly and looked away.

The elevator doors opened and we walked back over to the bullpen. I saw that Tony's desk was empty, so I guess he went to do his errands.

"Hey how was the shooting range?" McGee asked.

"Good" I answered. I sat down at my desk while Gibbs walked over to his desk.

I started working on my computer. He still hasn't answered my question.

I looked over to Gibbs. "So? Do I have to?" I asked.

He looked over at me. "Go down and talk to Abby. You'll get your answer from her"

I got up, looking at him in confusion. I walked over to the elevator. I pressed the button and stepped inside. The doors closed and I started my ride down to see Abby.

_What the hell does he mean?_

**A/N**

**Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a review, please! Suggestions/Questions? PM me!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N **

**Wow, it's been a while since I've written. School has been crazy! I have an AP college course, (I'm in 10****th**** grade) and an accelerated English course and German III and orchestra; It's just CRAZY. I'll try to get back on my schedule for chapter updates. I know a lot of you are probably kinda pissed that I haven't updated, but I will! Promise!**

** ~TheHerringCalledOmnomnom**

I stood in the elevator, tapping my foot. The doors opened and I stepped out. I walked in to Abby's lab, and saw her at the computer station hard at work. I walked up behind her and put my head on her shoulder.

"Ahh!" Abby shouted, jumping.

I started laughing while stumbling backwards. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" I said between breaths.

"No, it's fine. You're just really quiet, kinda like Gibbs." She said.

"I have a question for you." I told her.

"Sure" she replied, turning to face me.

"Well… I went to the shooting range with Gibbs today…" I started.

"Oh no, did you make a bet with him?" she asked.

"Well… yes" I said.

"Did you lose?" she asked, smiling.

I looked down at my feet. "Maybe"

Abby laughed, and I looked back up and smiled.  
"That wasn't what I wanted to ask you. So the bet was that whoever got the most hits on the bull's-eye won. Loser had to buy lunch…" I explained.

"You went out to lunch with Gibbs?!" she nearly shouted.

"Shhhh!" I said covering her mouth. "Is that bad?"

"No, no!" she said, pulling my hand away. "No, it's fine. It's just… not many people can actually get the privilege to go out to lunch with Gibbs." She said, giggling.

"Oh, well maybe he does it with all the newbies…" I contemplated.

"No, he doesn't. He never did it with Tony or McGee…" she started, then realized what she had said had sounded a bit dirty.

I looked up at her, and we both started laughing.

"No… I didn't mean… in that way…" Abby tried to explain while laughing in between breaths.

"Suuurrreeee" I said, while laughing just as hard as she was.

I was near tears now, and Abby was bending over the table and looked like she would fall on the floor from laughing. Abby looked up at me and suddenly, her laughing died down a little bit. I looked at her with confusion.

"What?" I asked. Then it occurred to me. "He's behind me isn't he?"

Abby nodded. I turned around and almost walked into Gibbs. I didn't know he was so close behind me, so I turned around expecting to see him at the door. But instead, I just ran right into him.

"Sorry, Boss" I said.

He just looked at me and a small smile made its way to his face. "Did you get your answer?"

I looked at Abby, then back at Gibbs. "Not really, we got sidetracked."

He looked to Abby, then back to me. "You don't have to" was all he said, then he walked over to Abby, handed her a CafPow, then kissed her on the head and walked over towards the door. He looked back, and I took that as a sign to follow him. I walked over and we got back in the elevator. _How come she gets a kiss, and I don't?_ I don't understand why I got a pang of jealousy when he kissed her. It was on the head, and he didn't even think twice about it or make a big deal about it.

The elevator closed, and he pressed the button. We rode up in silence, which made it kinda awkward. We returned to the bullpen, and I sat back down at my desk. Gibbs went over to his desk, and just as he was sitting down, his phone rang. He answered it, and said very few words, then hung up.

"Gear up, we got a dead marine" he said, while grabbing his stuff. I looked over to see McGee and Tony getting their things, so I copied them. I grabbed my gear, and followed them over to the elevator. We all rode down and after a quick stop to the bathroom to change into our gear, we all met up at Gibbs' car.

"Shotgun!" Tony yelled.

"No, Bella gets to ride shotgun" he said, climbing into the drivers' seat. I looked over at Tony, and smiled sweetly. He just shook his head with a look of disbelief on his face, and climbed into the back with McGee. I sat down and buckled up.

"Bella, you may want to hold onto something…" Tony started, but was cut off by Gibbs pulling out of the parking spot at an insane speed.

Tony fell into McGee, and McGee fell into the window as Gibbs made a sharp turn onto the highway. I however, stayed put, not sliding around or anything.

I looked back at Tony, who was now trying to sit up and recover. "I think I'm okay." I said, smiling.

We drove for about 20 more minutes, and turned to the crime scene. Gibbs shut the car off, and we all got out.

"McGee, bag and tag. Dinozzo, photos." he said. Both of them went over and ducked under the tape. I looked to Gibbs questioningly, as I wasn't sure what my task was. He walked over behind the car, and I hesitantly followed him, unsure if I should.

He turned to me. "I want to warn you that you may see some pretty nasty stuff. You're new, and I understand if you feel uneasy about it. Just don't do anything that makes you uncomfortable. I do expect you to help out as much as you can, and I think that after a few cases you'll get used to it."

I nodded, and swallowed. I was getting nervous now.

"You ready?" he asked.

I nodded again. "Ready as I'll ever be."

He smiled slightly. We walked over to the crime scene, and stepped under the tape. Gibbs went over to talk to another detective. I stood there, and looked around, wondering where the body could be. I didn't see anything, and I began to wonder when Gibbs walked back over to me.

"Body's in the woods, we'll have to hike a little bit." He said.

We walked down a clear path into the woods, then Gibbs stepped off and started walking towards a group of people. I followed him over, and instantly recognized two of the people as McGee and Tony. But I didn't recognize the other two people. Gibbs walked over to the body, which I had just noticed. It didn't look too bad, it certainly wasn't gory like I thought it would be. I walked around to stand beside McGee. It was only then that I saw that the body had multiple bullet holes in it. I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

"You okay?" asked McGee.

I nodded, while swallowing. "Yeah"

"First time seeing a body?" he asked.

"Yeah, in real life anyway." I said.

"It gets easier, I promise." He said.

"Thanks." I said, smiling.

"What have you got, McGee?" Gibbs voice said from behind us. McGee remained unaffected by his sudden appearance. I, however, jumped. We both turned our heads as Gibbs squeezed in between us.

"Well, our dead guy here was a marine…" he started.

"I had no idea, McGee." Gibbs interrupted, giving him a _no shit Sherlock _look. I smiled at his remark.

"He also was a worker at the local phone company, lived just outside the DC area with his wife and 10-year-old daughter." McGee said.

"So, he was your average guy" I said.

"Pretty much. Tony is taking photos of the knife found a few feet away from the body." McGee said.

"Okay. I'm gonna talk to Ducky real quick." Gibbs said.

Ducky? What was that, some kind of code word or something? Gibbs must have seen the confusion on my face, because he smirked and pointed to two people walking to us from another path.

"That's our medical examiner and autopsy expert Dr. Mallard. But we call him Ducky. As for the other one, he's an intern, more or less. His name's Jimmy Palmer." He explained.

"Okay, Ducky and Jimmy. Got it." I said.

"C'mon, I'll take you over to meet them." He said. He walked over to them, and I followed.

**A/N **

**I'M SO SORRY IF THIS CHAPTER SUCKED, I HAVE MULTIPLE FANFICTIONS I'M WORKING ON AND SOMETIMES I FORGET WHICH ONE I NEED TO UPDATE. FEEDBACK PLEASE! Thanks again for all the reviews, I really appreciate it! Love you guys!**

**P.S.- IF THERE ARE ANY SPELLING MISTAKES, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. AUTOCORRECT DOESN'T ALWAYS PICK UP ON THEM.**

** ~TheHerringCalledOmnomnom**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**

**Sorry about not updating for a while. You know, school and all that jazz. Anyway, here's another chapter. Reviews are always welcome. **

** ~TheHerringCalledOmnomnom**

We walked over to Ducky and Jimmy. Gibbs greeted Ducky, while Jimmy looked over to me with great interest.

"Ah, Jethro" Ducky looked up to Gibbs, then over to me. "Is this the new recruit, I assume?"

"Ducky, this is Bella. Bella, this is our medical examiner and autopsy specialist Dr. Donald Mallard."

"Oh, please, call me Ducky. Everyone else does." Ducky said, reaching out to shake my hand. He looked over to Jimmy. "Well don't just stand there Palmer, get to work."

Jimmy nodded, smiled at me, and walked over to the body. I couldn't help but notice Ducky's accent, it sounded English or British. I like it.

"Jethro hasn't been scaring you too much, I hope?" He said with a smile.

I looked up to Gibbs and smiled at him, and he smiled back. "No, but Tony is definitely a character." I said.

Ducky laughed. "You'll get used to him. All in good time, my dear." He said sweetly. "Well, Jethro, where's the body?"

Gibbs motioned a little ways behind him. "Over there. Tony should be finished with pictures by now."

Ducky nodded. "It was nice meeting you, dear. I have faith you will become a very valuable member to this team." He said. He started to walk away, but then looked back to us, eyes jumping back and forth between me and Gibbs. "Perhaps you already have." He said with a small playful smile.

I furrowed my brow. _What did he mean by that?_ I looked up to Gibbs in confusion, and he just shook his head, and walked back over to the scene, with a small smile on his face that did not go unnoticed by me. _Does he understand what Ducky said? _I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I followed him back over to the crime scene, and listened to him talking to McGee and Tony. I looked around when something on the ground caught my eye. I walked over and bent down to look at it. It was half hidden under a pile of leaves, but there was something shiny sticking out. I had my gloves in my pocket, so I pulled them out and put them on. I brushed the leaves away, and uncovered what looked like a small circuit board. I looked like only a very tiny fragment of it, but at least it was something.

"Hey, Gibbs" I called over to him. He looked to me, then walked over, closely followed by McGee and Tony. "Look" I said, holding it in the palm of my hand.

"Where'd you find that?" Tony asked.

"It was in this pile of leaves. Kinda looks like our killer might have dropped it by accident." I said, while examining it.

"Bag and tag it, we'll send it down to Abby so she can analyze it, see if she gets anything off it." Gibbs said to McGee. I stood back up, and McGee bent down to bag it.

Gibbs looked to me. "Nice work, Probie" he said.

I smiled, and blushed just a bit. "Thanks, boss." I said.

Gibbs turned and looked to Dinozzo. "I think we're done here, Ducky's bagging up the body and McGee is just finishing up. We'll get back to the office, see if we can't dig up a little more about this guy."

"Pack it up let's go" he said to McGee, who nodded and walked over to collect the bags. Gibbs, Tony and I walked over to Ducky, who had just gotten the body bag zipped up. "We're gonna head back, let us know what you find."

"Certainly, Jethro. See you back at the office, then" he said, while bending down to pick up the body. "Mr. Palmer, would you please help me carry our poor dead marine back to the truck?"

"Certainly, doctor" he said, with a smile.

"Let's go" Gibbs said, and with that, we all headed back to the cars. We all got in to the car, and drove back to the NCIS building.

**A/N**

**Sorry this chapter is so short and rushed, I have a lot of stuff going on right now, and school is being a bitch. I'll update soon. Promise! As always, leave a review please! Thanks!**

** ~TheHerringCalledOmnomnom**


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